By DJ Harding
Going into the new NFL season the Patriots have some roster changes between now and last season. So here are some of the highlights of the Patriots 53 man roster.
First comes the captains, with Devin McCourty retired the captains have a new look to them. Matthew Slater and David Andrews are the most familiar captains to the roster. Slater enters his 13th straight year as a Patriots captain the longest tenured player on the roster, Andrews meanwhile enters his seventh season as Patriots team captain.
Juwan Bentley is the third longest tenured captain entering his third season with the captain role. Hunter Henry becomes captain for the first time in what is his third season with the team. Henry is the only newcomer but there are two second year captains with Mac Jones and Detrich Wise Jr.
Speaking of Jones, the Quarterback room saw a lot of movement during the preseason. First we saw a Quarterback battle between Jones and Bailey Zappe, along with undrafted rookie Malik Cunningham getting some reps at Quarterback and Wide Receiver. Both Zappe and Cunningham were cut on the final day of roster cutdowns.
Both Zappe and Cunningham now sit on the Patriots practice squad. New England does have a second quarterback on their roster claiming Matt Corral, a second year quarterback out of Mississippi.
Even though Cunningham didn’t make the roster some rookies made the final 53 man roster. Christian Gonzalez who to some is a Defensive Rookie of Year candidate is the headliner of the rookie class.
Gonzalez isn’t the only rookie defensive back as Ameer Speed from Michigan State joins him. Keion White and Marte Mapu are the two rookies in the front seven for New England. White a Defensive End from Georgia Tech and Mapu a Linebacker from Sacramento State.
For Special Teams New England will have both their Kicker and Punter playing their first NFL season. Chad Ryland the kicker is a rookie from Maryland, Bryce Baringer the rookie punter is from Michigan State as well.
On the offensive side of the ball there are three offensive lineman and two wide receivers that are rookie on the 53 man roster. Jake Andrews, Antoni Mafi, Sidy Sow are the Offensive Linemen. Andrews comes from Troy, Mafi is from UCLA, and Sow is from Eastern Michigan.
The two receivers are Kayshon Boutte and Demario Douglas, Boutte is from LSU and Douglas is from Liberty. There are also newcomers to the roster like Ju-Ju Smith Schuster and Ezekiel Elliott on offense.
New England will begin their season against the Philadelphia Eagles at home with kickoff scheduled for 4:25.